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Mission: possible

What will it mean for us when the iPhone finally gets
here, asks Garry Barker.

Hannibal Smith would have loved it: Apple's plan is coming
together and the boys of Mission: Impossible who still do their
derring do among the cobwebs of insomniacs' TV would see instantly
how grand it is.

We had an example in Melbourne last week when, at a meeting of
iMUG (the Internet Macintosh User Group), a call was made over the
Telstra GSM network between two iPhones.

And then an iPod touch joined the dance and swapped emails with
the iPhones.

They used Gmail through Safari, which is in both devices, and it
worked beautifully. I was also able to receive my .Mac mail, but
was not able to send through the Apple service.

Unfortunately, I cannot think of a word other than convergence
to describe what is happening in the digital world.

As one of the iMUG experts observed: "Convergence is suddenly
becoming real. The iPhone (with phone, wi-fi internet and iPod
storage) is more convergent than anything else you can currently
hold in your hand. It is marking a real milestone in digital
development."

Both the iPod touch and the iPhone with their touch-screen
controls proved that "software trumps hardware", he said.

"They have no keys and only a couple of buttons - on-off and
home. The whole device is in software, making it totally
configurable. You can do almost anything you want because of that,"
he said.

"The iPhone is at the vanguard of that development."

Keith Lang, of the plasq team that built Comic Life and Skitch
(plasq.com), was one of the iPhone owners at the iMUG meeting and
said "the iPhone not only has Mac OS X but it has all the
developers behind it and they are dying to build stuff for it".

Having at first been skittish about hacker activity on the
iPhone, Apple has now relaxed its restrictions and will distribute
an iPhone software developers' kit early in February.

Apple chief executive Steve Jobs says he looks forward to
hundreds of third-party applications being created for the
devices.

In software terms, an iPod touch is essentially an iPhone
without the phone. Thus iPhone applications, at least those not
needing a phone network, should work on a touch.

iPhones are not expected to go officially on sale here until
well into next year, but a steady stream of them is coming into
Australia, many of which have been bought on eBay.

They are also available from dealers in HongKong, Manila,
Bangkok and some with Australian online addresses, but probably
Asian offices, for less than $A700. Officially, sellers will not
modify the software, but most seem to know a young hacker who can
help.

In their ex-factory form, iPhones are linked to single mobile
phone networks in the countries in which they are sold - AT&T's
Cingular in the US, T-Mobile in Germany and O2 in Britain.

But, because they, like the iPod touch, run a version of the
Macintosh operating system rather than a phone-specific system such
as Symbian, used by Nokia, Sony Ericsson and others, geeks have
been able to "liberate" them to use the SIM cards of "foreign"
networks.

An advantage of this is that you can enjoy an iPhone with its
built-in iPod and wi-fi internet browsing features and still make
local calls, thus happily avoiding cardiac arrest in your wallet
when you call the bloke next door by way of international roaming
on the "official" AT&T network in the US.

Professional developers are already active. Geoff Elwood, chief
executive of Etech Group, the Australian educational software
company, is an iPhone user. His Studywiz e-learning application,
used in schools and universities in more than 20 countries, has
communicated with iPods for many years. Now it runs on iPhone.

With 2008 not so far away, one might ask which telco is bidding
for iPhone in Australia. Telstra is rumoured to have been
conducting trials for some time and more fevered gossips suggest an
iPhone announcement might put a nice dob of cream on something like
a major Telstra store opening.

Against that is the fact that a 3G iPhone has not yet appeared,
although Apple is known to be working on it. For Telstra to be
really interested, one guesses, iPhone would have to have HSPA
(high-speed packet access) technology and work on the Next G mobile
broadband network.

MACFILE

If iPods had feelings - and who says they don't? - my black
classic model would be smiling. So far, it's had one big advantage
over the iPod touch - the voice-memo recording feature.

I use it as a voice recorder at least as much as I use it to
listen to podcasts and music and so far no accessory microphones
have been made for the touch.

The classic's microphones are not compatible with the touch
that, like the iPhone, uses what you might call a "light" version
of Mac OS X as its operating system.

When I plugged in the XtremeMac MicroMemo, a very good unit with
a microphone on a flexible stalk and a switched line-in socket, the
touch said: "Sorry, this device does not speak my language" - or
words to that effect.

Similarly with the Belkin TuneTalk and the Griffin iTalk, both
of which have rendered sterling service on my classic iPod and my
little Product Red nano.

But classic will soon be smiling on the other side of its dial.
XtremeMac has a touch microphone under development, as do Belkin
and Griffin. Availability is expected before the end of the
year.

Not that the shelves are bare of touch accessories. All manner
of cases, armbands, screen covers and battery chargers almost beat
the touch into the shops. Understandable: some people spend more on
accessories than on buying the iPod.